cost for wedding cake

[1dessertdiva]

I charge an additional 35% when a Bride brings me a Martha Stewart creation to emulate, everything she does is insanely complex and incredibly irritating. I once had to make a Faux fence for a 4 tier cake out of Royal icing (Good times).

[chubyalaskagriz]

I'm a recently "retired" chef/cake-artist who spent 25 years working at country clubs, resorts, cruise ship companies and Alaskan oil camps. My experience, (which is largely what I base my opinion on) is this: I have made lovely & decadent cakes using the finest ingredients and tons of my time and craft in ALASKA, where NOTHING is cheap. And I have made the exact same cake using the same ingredients and the same amount of my time & expertise in rural, central Illinois which has one of the nation's very most affordable costs of living. The cake that sold easily for $1000.00 in Alaska would NEVER sell for more than $350.00 in central Illinois. NEVER. Mid-westerners have a unique common sense- they grow and harvest flour, eggs, & milk- so they know their value, and they would never pay for champagne and get water in return. Mind you- I'm a creator of high-end products as well- I'm not knocking your product, and I feel your pain- I truly do. But the reality is, to some, a thousand dollar cake better come with a pair of Vegas hookers and a whole night in a hotel room attached!

[1dessertdiva]

I lived in Alaska 18 years and most of my family worked on the slope.
Just curious.

[chubyalaskagriz]

I was in Alaska 13 years and worked half of that time for Princess Cruiselines- 2 years aboard the Sun Princess and 5 years at various resorts around the state operated by Princess, including Kenai Princess Lodge in Cooper Landing, and the Fairbanks Princess Wilderness Lodge.

Then I hired-on with Eurest Support Services Worldwide where I cooked at and managed many different work-camps in several regions from Halliburton, Schlumbereger and Doyon up in Deadhorse at Prudhoe Bay on the North Slope- to the OSI Fisherman's Bunkhouse in Dutch Harbor out on the Aleutian chain, and Kennicott Greens Creek Silver & Zinc Mine Camp on Admiralty Island down in South-East a 40 minute ferry ride from Juneau.

I reluctantly left Alaska and kitchens recently to return home to Illinois to be near aging/ailing parnets. Miss kitchens a lot, but the much kinder/gentler job I have now, in addition to making me soft and lazy- is also wonderful, 'cause for the first time ever I can now have more of a personal life than ever before.

Cooking is pretty demanding and the remote camp rotation schedules, while allowing much time off throughout the year, are intense during work-hitches. I worked a 28-days-on/14-days-off rotation schedule pulling 16 hour days non-stop for a month. After 5 years of that, I was ready to call it quits!

[1dessertdiva]

My Dad worked for Arco, Veak, Holmes and Narver and the Navy as a quality control specialist all on the slope, my brother worked for Arco, Peak and someone else, they wouldn't let me sign on with anyone, it's a different world up there (one they didn't want me to know about anyway) I still have a bunch of friends up there (Anchorage, Wasilla, Palmer) one owns Alaska Wilderness Tours, originally I was going to "Chef" for him. His company has riggs that rival the Hum V and can climb up the side of a mountain. He had talked with Princess cruise lines about setting up something where he would pick up in his bus and do a quick day tour, not sure how that turned out, I've been tooooooo busy to keep in touch. Anyway, it's nice to talk to someone with common interests. I have to rescue some corn from the BBQ so gotta go! Take care
Joan

[chubyalaskagriz]

Hi Joan... yes small world indeed! I agree, it's nice to meet someone from the 'hood! I also managed food-service at the Arco Tower on "H" St. downtown Anch. for a bit- forgot all about that one. We lost the contract though when it became BP, then later Conoco-Phillips... not sure what it is now... What do you do for work, now? (hope your corn was delish!)

[1dessertdiva]

As far as work now, I sold Encore cafe' & catering as well as Mickeymadason's Grill, went to P&B Program, opened The Dessert Diva and I am about to add West Salem Pasta Co.
Tons of Caters and Wedding cakes as well as sculpted cakes for the summer, so I am actually going to close for summer and reopen in September.
Anyway I am off to work.
Joan

[tacotaco]

Wedding cakes can be som expensive! Lucky for me I know a friend that is in the industry of making wedding cakes. She will make me one when I get married for 75% off. She is so nice.

[chubyalaskagriz]

Yeah tacotaco, like w/ many industries, it's great to know someone "in the biz"! You're so lucky to know a pastry artist who will make your cake basically for cost! How wonderful, huh?

I'm really lucky like you, in that since I work in Alaska but keep my home 3400 miles away in Illinois, I have a great family who live near me back home that I can barter with. The Miltons are a Mormon family w/ 11 kids, PLUS an aunt and one set of elderly grandparents in their household! I make decorated birthday cakes for all their family-members throughout the year large enuf to feed their whole gang, plus graduation cakes, Mother's Day, holiday and other desserts to feed their crowd when I'm home. And if a birthday or celebration comes around while I'm away at work, then I make/decorate the cake ahead of time and give them access to it in my deep-freezer in the basement. What do I get in return? When I'm away from home for 28 days at a time, they not only keep an eye on my place, but they mow my small yard and keep the shrubs trimmed in the summer- and they rake leaves and shovel/plow my snow in fall/winter, and do lite maintanence projects for me either free or at a reduced/cheap rate. The little bartering-system we've got worked out is wonderful all the way around, and benefits all of us!

[scifimom]

I highly recommend the bakers at Whole Foods on Arden and Eastern. Their cakes are delicious. Don't quote me on this, but I think we paid $100 for a half sheet almond/white chocolate filled cake that was two layers.

[CoutureCakes]

I am an owner of a cake bakery shop, and cakes are very time consuming, especially tired cakes and sculpted cakes. The hardest part of our business is making sure we charge the right amount for the time it takes to make the cake and decor. Food costs are high now, butter is pretty expensive now, my dilema is trying to find a substitiute for my butter in my cake recipes. Never used margarine or shortning in a cake recipe, any suggestions?

[1dessertdiva]

I am having the same issues all of my cakes use real butter. I have been experimenting with 75% butter 25% margarine with great sucess I just cut back slightly on the liquid to compensate. I frost 99% of my Wedding cakes in Swiss Meringue using 100% butter although recently I have substituted 1# of shortening with sucess, I don't like to decrease the butter too much because that is where a lot of flavor and texture are. I intend to increase my pricing on new contracts. I sympathize!
Take care
Joan

[chefpeon]

Butter prices are high, but I would never sacrifice quality, especially in a specialty cake shop, because people expect the best from you. Rather than cheapen the product, I raise my prices if needed.

[cakesandbells]

Originally Posted by chefpeon

Butter prices are high, but I would never sacrifice quality, especially in a specialty cake shop, because people expect the best from you. Rather than cheapen the product, I raise my prices if needed.

but still, there are times when clients won't buy anymore especially if the prices are just too high for the budget. it's best that you balance it with demand and supply.